Blog of a course that allows students to learn how to use books, newspapers, magazines, journals, archives, databases, and the Internet to find and evaluate information on legendary creatures such as Bigfoot, the Loch Ness Monster, and other cryptids. It also encourages the developement of critical thinking skills to deal with extraordinary claims and ideas for thinking about them.

Friday, February 1, 2013

Hunting the Jersey Devil

This week I did some exploration of the website of The Devil Hunters, who bill themselves as the official researchers of the Jersey Devil. Their page is the first result if you Google "jersey devil."

The devil hunters have conducted 41 hunts, their most recent on March 14, 2009.

This most recent hunt was unsuccessful all around. For one, the hunters had only until dusk to get out of the park. The most they were able to do was make a cast of some "unusual footprints," but they weren't able to retrieve them, because a state trooper ordered them to leave the park. When they returned to retrieve the plaster cast in the morning, it was nowhere to be found. The hunters speculated that perhaps an animal had made off with it, or perhaps the state trooper who told them to clear out. On the margins is the suggestion that the Jersey Devil itself took the cast of its footprints...however, nothing is certain.

In other news, there is a season one episode of The X-Files about the Jersey Devil. I have not yet watched it, but it received mostly mediocre reviews.

I still await the book that I ordered on the Jersey Devil, which has been described in reviews as the "definitive source" on the creature.